The Fire Within
by Surreal Redmoon
Summary: Claire is starting a new high school. She wants to fit in a keep her abilities secret from the students. However, stange things start to happen when she meets a girl called Max who it seems may have some secrets of her own. Warning contains femslash.
1. Strange Beginnings

_So here is my third attempt at fanfiction and my first attempt at a Heroes one. I started writing this ages ago but only recently started to type it up to get it on here. For now it's mostly about the building friendship but it will start to head towards femslash in the later chapters. So there is your initial warning!_

_Disclaimer: For once I actually own a character or two in my story XD. However, I sadly do not own any of the Bennet family or other Heroes characters that I may include._

_Enjoy and please review to let me know how I'm doing XD_

**The Fire Within – A Heroes Fanfic**

**Chapter 1 – Strange Beginnings**

'Great. New town, new school and I have no idea where I'm going.' Claire Bennet was stood staring at a rather useless map of the school showing where her classes were supposed to be. Suddenly her attention was drawn away from the map to a hand waving in front of her face. She looked up and saw a girl in a black and pink cheerleaders uniform standing in front of her.

"Hey you're the new girl. Claire, right?" the cheerleader asked.

"Err, yeah that's me," Claire replied.

"So what class are you looking for?"

"Biology, I think." Claire tried to fumble for her class list. "Yeah. Biology in Lab 3."

The cheerleader gave Claire a smile before linking her arm and walking down the hall with Claire. "Well Claire, it's your lucky day. I have that too, follow me. I'm Chloe by the way."

The two girls walked for a few minutes with Chloe making more small talk asking Claire about herself but gave up quickly as Claire became more and more evasive with her answers. The girls arrived at the lab and Chloe unhooked her arm from Claire's and opened the door. "Well, here we are." They walked into the lab. Chloe waved at her group of friends, all of whom were in cheerleaders uniforms Claire noticed, and nodded towards Claire mouthing "New girl."

Claire looked around the lab, taking it all in. In the corner Claire noticed a girl in fairly ragged clothing writing furiously on a piece of paper. She looked up and caught Claire's eye for a second before returning to her paper.

"Who's that?" Claire asked indicating the girl in the corner.

"That's Max. She used to be alright, really into music. She used to play at the local club a lot. But then her dad died and she turned into this complete weirdo," replied Chloe.

"What do you mean by weirdo?"

"Well she stopped talking to everyone, started sitting on her own, ditching classes and sometimes she gets this strange look on her face and she starts twitching." Chloe glanced quickly at Max, then back at Claire. "That part's hard to explain but if you see it you'll understand." Chloe had whispered so only she would hear.

"Chloe would you care to take your seat please," came a male voice from behind the two girls.

"Yes sir," Chloe replied before quickly saying to Claire, "I'll see you after to help you to your next period," and taking her seat amongst the other cheerleaders.

The teacher turned to Claire, "so who do we have here then?" he inquired.

"Claire Bennet," she replied giving a small sheepish smile.

"Well then Claire, I'm Mr Turner." He turned around to pick up a textbook off the shelf by his desk and handed it to Claire. "Here's your textbook. If you could take a seat too we shall begin."

Claire turned away to look for a seat to take. There was only one seat left, next to the girl Chloe had been telling her about; Max. She walked over and sat down next to Max.

"Hi, I'm Claire Bennet," she said quietly as the teacher started the lesson.

"Max," the girl replied not looking up from her paper.

"What you writing?" Claire inquired leaning over slightly to have a look. Max responded by snapping her writing pad shut and putting it to the side of the desk. 'Ok.' Claire thought. 'Defiantly a tick in the weird box.' "So, what are the good places to go round here?"

"Look..." Max snapped in a low growl, "I don't know why you re insistently trying to talk to me..."

"I'm just trying to make friends." Claire whispered defensively.

"Well I'm not really a friend kind of person." Max replied looking hard into Claire's eyes. Claire looked into Max's eyes too, they were brown but after a second she could have sworn they started turning bright red. Claire was only just able to register this before Max's head whipped around to the front of the lab. Claire noticed that the girl's jaw as set, her hands clenched into fists and every muscle in her body seemed to be contracting. 'So this must be what Chloe was trying to describe to me' Claire thought deciding that maybe she shouldn't try talking to Max again during the lesson.

As soon as the bell went Max grabbed her things and left the room. Claire collected her things and walked over to Chloe.

"Hey you ready for your next period?" Chloe asked.

"Yeah I've got gym, I think..." Claire replied.

"Cool. Well I'll show you the way to the changing rooms then I'll meet you there for lunch if you want."

"Sure." Claire gave a small smile and they made their way to the changing rooms.

Gym passed without much trouble and soon she was being lead to the cafeteria by Chloe to be formally introduced to Chloe's friends. When they entered the cafeteria Claire scanned her eyes over everything, taking it all in. As her eyes passed over the corner they locked onto another pair of eyes, bright red, almost glowing, before the owner stood up and abruptly left the cafeteria. She recognised the blazing eyes from earlier, Max. Intrigued by Max's behaviour so far Claire wanted to follow her and find out what the hell was wrong with her.

"Umm, Chloe where's the bathroom?" Claire asked.

"It's just down that hallway on the right," Chloe replied pointing in the direction Max had just fled.

"Thanks, I'll be right back." Claire barely said before darting around the chairs and tables to get to the hallway.

"I guess she really had to go," Chloe commented to a blonde haired girl beside her.

Stood in the hallway Claire looked around for some inclination as to where Max had gone to. "What am I doing trying to follow some crazy girl because she doesn't like to be around me. This is stupid," Claire muttered to herself. She was about to turn and head back to the cafeteria when she caught the scent of smoke. Claire rushed to where the smell was emanating from and was lead to the girls bathroom.

Cautiously Claire pushed the door open keeping as quiet as she could and closed it before too much of the smoke smell could escape and attract attention. She moved slowly down the line of cubicles to the one at the end, nearest the open windows. She stood outside the closed cubicle and listened to the quiet 'click, click' sound of a lighter before hearing a 'whoosh' sound.

"Ah shit," Claire heard the girl inside the cubicle exclaim. Claire heard a 'thump' and the door opened slightly. She moved forward and pushed the door gently open. The girl inside had her back to her but she could tell from the clothes that it was Max. Claire was about to ask what the hell was going on but she noticed that Max's boy was tensed once again to the point of shaking.

Claire reached out to touch Max's shoulder. Just as she did Max span round and grabbed her wrist. She locked her eyes with Claire's and Claire noticed that Max's eyes were burning red brighter then any normal person could get their eyes to go, even with contacts. Claire broke her gaze from Max's eyes and turned them towards her wrist. At first she thought that the light coming through the frosted glass of the window was throwing shadows onto her skin. Then she looked closer and saw that the area around which Max had grabbed hold of her was burnt black and blistered. Her mouth opened in shock, of course it didn't matter because she would heal, but what if it hadn't been her that had walked in on Max?

Suddenly Max's head snapped round to look at Claire's wrist and she quickly let go and stepped back bumping into the toilet. In the split second between turning her head and letting go Max seemed to have returned to the status of 'normal' human being. She dropped down onto the toilet with her head in her hands. Claire took another look at her wrist just in time to see the charred and blackened shape of the hand that had grabbed her before it finished healing.

"I'm so sorry," Max whispered bringing Claire's attention back to the girl sat in front of her. "How bad is it?" she asked not moving to look herself.

"It's nothing," Claire replied softly. "See for yourself." She held out her, now fully healed, wrist waiting for Max to look up. At first Max didn't show any sign of wanting to move but after a minute she slowly started to look up until she caught a glimpse of the perfectly healed skin. She grabbed hold of Claire's wrist, gently this time, and examined it.

"But it was burnt. I saw it... I..." Max stammered out.

"The light plays tricks in here." Claire shrugged. "Are you ok?"

Max was sat there with her mouth open staring at Claire's wrist before slowly lifting her head up to look at her face. Her eyes had gone back to the brown colour they had been the first time Claire had seen them. She could see the pain etched across Max's face and then the sorrow mixed with relief in her eyes.

"So... you wanna tell me what was going on?" Claire asked. Max just dropped her hands and head so she was staring at her shoes. Claire crouched down in front of her so that she was at the same height as the girl and gently, but firmly, lifted her chin up so they were face to face.

"Why don't you come over to my house after classes. I know someone who might be able to help you understand what's going on." Max's eyes widened in shock at this comment.

"Umm... umm... yeah... yeah sure." Max eventually stuttered out. Claire gave her a big smile and got a small one in return. A bell rang outside the bathroom.

"I think we should get to class. Are you going to be alright?" Claire asked whilst helping Max to her feet.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." Max replied walking with Claire towards the door. "I guess I'll see you later," she said to Claire as they parted ways.


	2. Authors Note  Character Descriptions

**Author's Note – Character Descriptions**

As one reader pointed out to me I managed to not describe the characters of Max and Chloe properly and therefore you have no idea what they are supposed to look like. I imagine some people have created their own versions of the what these characters should look like but I thought I would put this in so that you would all know what I am seeing when I write these characters.

**Max**

Approximately 5'7"

Slender build edging towards too skinny

Dark brown hair and eyes

A cross between 'trailer trash' and rock chick type style

**Chloe**

Approximately 5'9"

Athletically slender build

Light brown hair with blonde highlights

Green eyes

Fashion conscious style

I hope these descriptions are adequate enough for you if not let me know and I'll try to do a bit more on them.

Thanks XD


	3. Revealing Secrets Part 1

_Hey I hope you are all enjoying this fanfic so far. I've been having a great time writing it. Just as a not I would like to warn people that the next chapter that I post will be a bit darker and I will be increasing the rating on this story to M as there will be some dark themes running through this story soon. However, I hope that it won't put any of you off reading the story XD._

_So here is the second instalment of my Claire/OC story. Enjoy and please review it makes me feel all warm inside XD._

_Disclaimer: I do not own the Bennet family and nor will I ever sadly :(_

**Chapter 2 – Revealing Secrets Part 1**

Claire stood by her car in the car park waiting for Max. It was half four and she had been stood waiting and watching since the end of classes but she hadn't seen any sign of Max since they parted ways after lunch. Claire was about to give up and go home when she caught a glimpse of Max leaning against a street lamp by the bike stands. Claire walked over to Max and placed a hand on her shoulder. She felt her hand warm up even through the layers of clothing that Max was wearing.

"Hey, it's Claire," she said calmly not wanting to startle Max even more. She walked around to face her and saw that Max was staring into the distance. Max had obviously registered her presence because her whole body had tensed and then relaxed when Claire had spoken to her. She waited for a minute before touching Max's arm and asking, "Are you ready to go?"

Slowly Max's body started to turn towards Claire, with her eyes being the last to turn. When their eyes fixed on each other, Claire once again, felt a sudden, strange feeling come over her, a feeling that Claire hadn't felt in a long time.

Claire quickly let go of Max's arm and put on a smile before turning towards her car. "Shall we?" Max shook her head quickly, like someone would when trying to get water out of their ears, and smiled back shyly.

"Sure, let's go," Max replied before following Claire to her car. "Wow." Max stopped in front of Claire car with her mouth open in shock. Claire turned back to look at her.

"What?" she inquired.

"That…" Max pointed towards the car, "is a nice car."

Claire smiled at her, "yes it is. Now come on, get in." Max smiled properly at Claire before running round the car to get in.

The drive back to Claire's house was a quiet one. Claire focused on the road while Max stared off into space again. When Claire turned down her street she turned towards Max and touched her arm gently. "We're here." She told Max.

Max looked down at where Claire was touching her arm and gave a small smile before looking at the house they had pulled up in front of. "Wow," Max said under her breath staring at the house. She regained her composure quickly before Claire noticed.

They both got out of the car and walked towards the front door of the house. Claire gave Max a quick, cheeky smile before opening the door and walking into the house. Pausing at the threshold Max took a breath before following Claire inside. Max got a quick look around the hallway before she felt Claire grab her hand and pull her into the kitchen.

Sandra was in the kitchen making a sandwich when Claire and Max came in. She looked up and saw the two girls and paused to take a look at the unknown girl stood next to her daughter.

"Mom, this is Max. I met her at school today." Claire said beaming at her mom.

"Well it's nice to meet you Max," Sandra said giving Max a friendly smile. "Would you like something to eat or drink Max?"

"Umm, no thanks Mrs Bennet," Max replied shyly looking down at her shoes.

"Oh call me Sandra dear," Sandra told Max continuing to give her a friendly smile.

"Mom, is dad home yet?" Claire but in to save Max from Sandra's smile.

Sandra turned to look at her daughter. "Not yet. But he shouldn't be too much longer. Why don't you girls go hang out and I'll let you know when he gets back."

"Sure." Claire replied grabbing Max's hand and dragging her in the direction of the stairs leading to her room.

When they reached Claire's room she let go of Max's hand and sat down on the end of her bed. Max just stood at the end of the bed watching Claire for a minute.

"So…" Max said, breaking the silence that had formed when they entered the room.

Claire gave her a small smile. "So."

"How?" Max asked quietly.

"How, what?" Claire replied calmly, knowing what was about to come.

"How did you not burn when I touched you?" Max blurted out. Claire smiled again and patted the space next to her on the bed.

"Sit down Max and I'll explain."

Slowly Max walked over and sat down next to Claire never taking her eyes off of Claire's. Claire took Max's hand in both of hers and looked at her seriously.

"I did burn when you touched me earlier Max. But…" She let go of Max's hand, got up, walked over to her desk and picked up a pair of scissors. Before Max realised what Claire was doing she sliced open the palm of her hand. Max jumped up from where she was sat on the bed and leaped over to where Claire was stood. By the time Max had grabbed Claire's hand the wound had already begun to heal. Max stood there staring at the wound until there was nothing left except a small amount of blood which had already escaped from the wound before it healed.

After a few minutes of stunned silence Max finally looked up from Claire's hand to her face.

"Wow. That was impressive."

Claire looked down at her hand which Max was still holding then back up at Max. "Yeah it is." She smiled at Max and was rewarded with an equally large grin in return.

"That's so cool, t-that you can heal. Like I could go super hot; and you'd still be fine. Right?"

"Yup." Claire gave Max another cheeky grin. They stood there grinning at each other until they heard the sound of the front door opening. Max jumped a little and let go of Claire's hand.

"Claire, your father's home," Sandra called from the bottom of the stairs.

"Be right down," Claire called back. She turned to Max, "Come on, I'll introduce you to my dad." Claire grabbed Max's hand again and pulled her in the direction of the door. When Max didn't move Claire let go of her hand and moved to stand back in front of her. "Are you ok?" Claire asked, concerned by the faraway look that was once again in Max's eyes. A second later Max shook her head as she had done before and turned to Claire as if nothing had happened.

"Yeah, ok. Let's go." Max waited for Claire to move before following her out of the door. The two girls walked down the stairs and into the kitchen where Claire's father was sat at the counter with a cup of coffee and the daily paper in front of him. When he heard the girl's reach the bottom of the stairs he looked up and gave them a warm smile.

"Hello Claire bear, who's your friend?" He looked at Max who quickly looked at the floor.

"Dad, this is Max. She's from my biology class," Claire paused, looking at Max then back at her dad. "Umm… Dad. Can we talk to you about something?"

"Of course you can Claire bear." Claire moved forward to sit with her dad at the counter. Max slowly followed suit and sat next to Claire and opposite Noah. "So what do you want to talk to me about Claire?" Noah asked addressing his daughter.

"Well…" Claire glanced over at Max who was looking nervously at the counter. "Max is like me. Not in the way that I can heal but she can control heat."

"And fire," Max cut in not looking up from the counter.

Claire nodded towards Max. "And fire. But she's having trouble controlling it." She gave Max another nervous glance before continuing. "Do you know if there's anything we can do to help her?" Now it was Claire's turn to look nervous after she finished saying what she had to say.

Noah was quite for a second, taking in all this information. He looked at Max and then back at Claire looking serious. "Does Max's ability affect yours Claire?"

"No," Claire replied calmly. "I heal just fine and I don't feel it hurt me either."

"Ok then," Noah replied, pausing once more to think. "Well I will have a look into it and see if I can come up with something that might help. In the mean time I suggest you stick together and see if you can help her out." At this point Noah turned to look at Max, who was still very intent on staring at the counter. "How does that sound Max?"

Max's head snapped up at the sound of her name.

"Umm… yeah that sounds great. Anything that might help me form spontaneously combusting has to be has to be a good thing right?" She turned to look at Claire who gave her a re-assuring smile.

Just then the clock in the hallway started to chime. Max jumped and then whipped her head round to look at the clock. "Damn," she muttered under her breath. She turned to look at Claire. "I'm sorry but I have to get home." Max said getting up to leave. "It's been great to meet you Mr Bennet." She gave Noah a small smile.

"You too, Max and call me Noah." he replied returning the smile.

Claire got up and followed Max out to the car so that Max could get her things out of it. "Do you want a lift home?" she offered as she opened the boot up for Max.

"No thanks. It's not too far I can walk." Max grabbed her things and slung her bag over her shoulder.

"Ok. Well I guess I'll see you tomorrow at school then," Claire said closing the book.

"I guess so," Max replied. There was a silence before Max said, "so, see ya," before walking down the sidewalk and around the corner of the street.

"See ya," Claire said quietly to herself before walking back inside.


	4. Night Time Visitor

_So here is chapter 3 of the story and this is where it starts getting a lot darker. If you have a problem reading about people suffering abuse and physical harm then you may not want to read this story, at least for the next few chapters. But don't worry the story will get happier soon I promise :)._

_Please, please, please review to tell me what you think of the story so far :)_

_Also as a warning I've managed to damage my shoulder and my writing arm is therefore currently in a sling which is making writing and typing slightly more difficult. However I already have another chapter written I just need to type it up so I may be able to have another update for you soon._

_Disclaimer – As before I still don't own the Bennet family :(._

**Chapter 3 – Dark Secrets**

The next day Claire pulled up at school and jumped out of her car. She was looking forward to the day because she'd be able to see Max again. 'Right, now to find Max. I have so much to talk to her about. I'm so glad I've found someone else like me in this place.' Claire looked around at all the students milling around the car park and heading into buildings to get to their first classes. Since Claire had biology first she figured she'd be able to talk to Max during the class, she headed off to the labs.

When Claire reached the biology lab Max was nowhere to be seen. She sat down in her seat, got her books out and waited. There was still five minutes before the class started, plenty of time for Max to turn up. Five minutes later the class started and Max still hadn't shown up. Claire spent the next twenty minutes watching the door and wondering where on earth Max could be. 'What if something happened to her when she was walking home? I knew I should've driven her even if it was only a short way. Damn. I really hope she's ok.'

After half an hour Claire was really starting to worry when the classroom door opened. Max stood in the threshold wearing the same clothes Claire had seen her in the day before. She had her hood up and was wearing a pair on sunglasses.

It took the teachers a few moments to realise why the class has stopped paying attention to him and focus on the girl in the doorway.

"How nice of you to join us Max. Please take your seat and I'll speak to you after class." Max nodded very slightly before moving towards her seat next to Claire. "Oh and Max, can we lose the sunglasses please." Max turned back towards Mr Turner and removed her sunglasses. Mr Turner looked at her slightly uneasily. "Thank you Max, take your seat." Max said nothing and continued over to Claire.

She sat down and didn't bother to take any of her books out of her bag. She folded her arms on her chest and tilted her head down slightly. Claire couldn't see her face so she leaned in slightly and whispered, "Hey, are you ok? What happened to you?" Claire listened for a response but didn't get one. She leaned in a little closer and could hear a faint noise coming from inside Max's hood and realised that Max had headphones in and couldn't hear her. Claire leaned back into her chair; obviously she wasn't going to get any answers for now.

The bell rang to signal the end of the class. Everybody got up and packed their bags before leaving; except Max. She sat in her chair waiting for everyone to leave so the Mr Turner could speak to her. Just outside the classroom Claire stood waiting for Max to come out. She had a free period now so she planned to wait for Max to finish and then catch her on her way out.

Claire was watching Max so intently that she didn't notice the cheerleader step out in front of her.

"Hey Claire, how are you finding your second day here?" Chloe asked with a big smile on her face. Claire put on a smile and replied, "Yeah it's been good." At that moment the door opened and Max pushed her way through the two girl before disappearing into the crowd of people walking to their next class.

"What's up with her? She's acting weirder than usual." A girl stood just behind Chloe joked to the blonde girl next to her. "If that's even possible." The blonde girl replied.

Chloe turned around and addressed the two girls. "I bet you'd both act weird if your dad died too. Now leave her alone and go get ready for practice." The two girls muttered an apology to Chloe before skulking off towards the changing rooms. Chloe turned back around to face Claire. "I'm sorry about those two, not all the cheerleaders here are so heartless and bitchy. They're just pissy because I threatened to make them work with the new recruits at the try-outs tomorrow." Claire gave her a knowing look and a nod. "Which brings me to what I came over to talk to you about," Chloe continued. "I think you should try-out. You look like you could be really good." Chloe gave Claire another big smile and waited for Claire's response.

"Well I used to dabble in it a bit at my old high school so I guess I could give it a shot. When are the try-outs?" Claire smiled back.

"Tomorrow lunchtime, in the gym. It'll be fun and there's quite a few spots open this year so I'm sure you'll get in. Anyway, I've got to go to practice. I'll catch you later." With that Chloe bounded off through, the now thinning, crowd towards the changing rooms.

Claire just stood there for a second taking in what had just happened. 'Well I wanted to fit in here, what better way than getting into the cheerleading squad.' She looked around the hallway, which was now nearly empty. 'Where the hell did Max go?' Claire had an idea and rushed off towards the bathroom that she had found Max in the day before.

Sure enough the window was open, the far stall was occupied and there was the _click, click, click _sound of a lighter coming from the stall. 'Wow, déjà vu much.' Claire carefully walked over to the far stall. The clicking stopped and before Claire could push the door open she heard a hoarse voice from inside the cubicle, "What do you want?"

"Max. It's Claire." 'What is up with her voice? Is she ill? Is that why she was late in?'

"Yes. What?" Max replied, still not opening the door.

"I just wanted to see if you were alright. I was worried about you."

"I'm fine." Max growled at Claire. Claire stood there for a second, slightly surprised at Max's aggressive tone.

"It's just that you were late in and wouldn't talk to me in biology. I just thought something might be up." Claire said calmly.

"I said I'm FINE!" The stall door slammed open and Max rushed out passed Claire, heading for the door. Claire grabbed her arm to try and stop her causing Max to swing back round to face her. Max's hood was still up and she was looking at the floor so Claire still couldn't see her face properly. She moved to push Max's hood back but Max grabbed her arm. Claire stopped and looked at her arm; it was blistering and burning already. Max pushed Claire's arm away with enough force to make her stumble back slightly. Claire looked back from her arm just in time to see the bathroom door swing closed. Claire looked back at her arm as the skin healed. 'What happened to her?'

The rest of the day passed as a blur and all Claire could think about was Max. She was really worried about her. 'She could hurt herself if she loses control or she could hurt someone else.' Claire felt a strange twinge at the thought of Max hurting herself. She really cared about her. They'd only met the day before but something was pulling her towards Max and Claire had no idea what it was.

Claire pulled up at home after school and went straight to her room without saying hello to her mother. She dumped her bag on the floor and lay down on her bed looking up at the ceiling. She couldn't work out what was going on with Max. 'And why do I care so much? It's not like we were best buds, we only met yesterday. But still I really worry about her. I can tell she's been through a lot more in her life than most people but she's strong and I know there's a beautiful and sweet girl underneath all the crazy exterior… Hang on a sec, did I just say she was beautiful?'

Claire sat up and pondered this thought for a minute. 'Yeah, she is beautiful. Most people probably don't notice because everything else about her is so intense. Hmm.'

"Claire bear it's time for dinner." Noah called from the bottom of the stairs. Claire looked at her alarm clock and was shocked at how long she had been sat there thinking about Max. She got up and walked down the stairs to the dining table where her family was sat. Claire joined them and they began the meal.

Later that night Claire was sat in bed reading before going to sleep. _Tap_. She sat up and put her book down, listening. _Tap_. Slowly Claire got out of bed and walked over to the window. _Tap_. She opened her curtains and looked out her window. She could just about make out a figure stood below her window but it was too dark to see who it was. Opening the window Claire quietly called out to the figure below.

"Who's there?"

"Claire, it's Max," Claire breathed a sigh of relief now that she knew who the figure was. "Can I… can I come in please?" It was too dark for Claire to see the expression on Max's face but she could hear the pain in her voice.

"Of course. I'll let you in." Claire closed the window and quietly made her way to the front door trying not to disturb her parents. She carefully opened the door and let Max in. "We have to be quiet." Claire whispered before taking Max's hand and leading her up to her room.

When they got into the room Claire turned around and closed the door behind them. She then turned back towards Max to look at the girl properly. Max's hair was covering her face, her clothing was singed at the edges and there were holes burnt through her t-shirt, one of which revealed part of her left breast. Claire found herself staring before catching herself and thinking, 'What the hell Claire? Inappropriate much? And what the hell?'

She walked over from the door to stand in front of Max, who was adamantly staring at the floor so that her dark hair hid her face. Slowly, Claire raised her hand and moved Max's hair away from her face and tucked it behind her ear. Claire looked at Max's face and gasped.

Max's bottom lip was split and swollen, she had a cut across her right eyebrow and her right eye was black and purple. Max finally looked up at Claire. She could see the silent tears flowing down Claire's cheeks as she looked at her face. The next thing Max knew Claire was holding her tightly. She tensed at this contact before relaxing into Claire's embrace. The two girls just stood there holding each other for a while with both of them silently crying into the others shoulder. At some point Claire's hand had moved from Max's back and had begun to stroke her hair in a soothing motion.

"Please can I stay here tonight?" Max asked quietly with her face still buried in Claire's shoulder. Claire pulled back slightly so she could look at Max's face again.

"Of course you can. I'm not letting you go anywhere like this." She pulled Max in for another minute before letting go of her and stepping back. "I've got some clothes you can sleep in." Claire walked over to her drawers and took out a pair of pyjama bottoms and an old t-shirt. She took them over to where Max was still stood, watching her. She handed the clothes to Max who just stared at them. "Come on, you need to get out of those clothes. No offence but I think they may be slightly ruined." Max looked up, shocked. "It's ok." Claire walked over and placed a hand on Max's face. Max's eyes closed and Claire could feel her relaxing against her touch. "I'll lend you some clothes for tomorrow. Don't worry about that now." Max nodded very slightly and moved away so that she could change.

Claire turned away to give her some privacy until she caught a glimpse of Max's back in the mirror. She turned to look at Max properly. There was a large bruise by her left kidney and a hand shaped bruise on her right upper arm. 'What happened to her?' Claire thought to herself again. She looked away just as Max was about to take her trousers off but again caught a glimpse of her in the mirror as she turned away. Claire turned away a little further to hide the blush forming on her cheeks form Max. She took a deep breathe when she heard Max say, "I'm done," and turned back to face Max.

Max looked so nervous stood by the bed wearing Claire's clothes. Claire walked over to Max and pulled back the covers of the bed. She climbed in and motioned for Max to climb in with her which she did, slowly.

For a while they just lay there in the bed, with Max staring at the ceiling and Claire watching Max. They stayed this way until Max said, "Everything was perfect."

Claire waited for a minute to see if Max was going to add anything to that comment. Just when Claire thought Max wasn't going to say anything else she turned over on her side to face Claire. She looked into Claire's eyes and Claire could see the tears forming in Max's eyes. She pulled Max over to her so that she was holding Max's head to her chest as she began to cry again.

"Everything was perfect before my dad dies." Max mumbled into Claire's chest.

"Shhh… it'll be ok." Claire said, starting to stroke Max's hair again making her relax against her once more. After about five minutes of lying there with Max in her arms Claire felt her breathing even out and could tell that she had fallen asleep.

Carefully, Claire leaned over to her bedside table and turned the lamp off before settling down to sleep herself. Claire's last thought before falling asleep was how easily their bodies fit together.


	5. AN  Sneak Peak for Chapter 5

Hiya guys. I wanted to apologise for taking so long with this chapter. I've had a rather bad shoulder injury for the last couple of weeks which has pretty much disabled my writing hand. I'm about halfway through writing the next chapter. I didn't want to skip out on you guys but I also didn't want to mess this chapter up by rushing to write it as it is going to contain a number of big plot points. So I thought I'd give you guys a little sneak peak at some of the stuff I've already written just to keep you going until I can get the rest of it written. I don't know when I will be able to put up the next chapter as I have a crazy week with lots of tests and coursework that now actually counts towards my degree XS but I will have it up ASAP.

Anyway enjoy this little preview and thanks for reading guys

xx

"Hey."

Max turned her head to look at Claire before responding, "Hey to you too." She gave Claire a slightly cheeky grin, "did you enjoy the show?"

Claire smiled back at her, "yeah I did. You're really good."

Max closed the lid of her guitar case and turned around to face Claire properly. "That song was for you, you know." She took hold of Claire right hand with hers, "you really are a hero to me. You reminded me that I could control my power rather than have them control me. And you showed me that, even after everything that's happened to me in the last couple of years, I can still be happy."

All Claire could do for a moment was smile at Max. "I'm glad I make you feel happy Max, you deserve to be. You make me feel happy too," Max smiled just as Claire's stomach gave a little growl. "But right now I feel really hungry so let go grab some food shall me." Max nodded as Claire pulled on her hand leading her towards the queue for food.

Chloe, who had overheard the two girl's exchange, watched as they walked off. She was watching them so intently that she didn't even notice the red-haired girl sat next to her was talking to her about her plans for the evening until she tapped her on the shoulder.

"Hey, you listening to me?" the girl asked Chloe.

Chloe turned back round to look at the girl, "sorry got distracted by something."

So there you have it guys just a little sneak peak at what's to come. I hope you can forgive me enough to wait just a little while longer for the next awesome chapter which is one its way to you very soon I promise.

Thank again for reading guys XD x


	6. Revealing Secrets Part 2

Hello there all my wonderful readers XD. I am truly sorry about the epic amount of time that you have had to wait for this chapter. As I said in the teaser I gave you I have been injured for a few weeks and my workload for university has been chaotic. Sadly although I am now injury free my workload does not look like it will be easing up any time soon, in fact I foresee it increasing a lot in the next few weeks. Therefore I would like to apologise now for any delays in getting the next chapter to you… hopefully you won't hate me too much.

Anyway I've kept you long enough. There will form now on be a proper element of femslash and there are some other more adult themes in this chapter too. You have been warned before and you are being warned again, if you don't think you'll like it then please don't read it. However, I hope that you will and that you will enjoy it XD.

Disclaimer – I still don't own the awesome Claire and Noah Bennet

**Chapter 4 – Revealing Secrets Part 2**

In the weeks following that night Claire began to get into a routine. She had easily made it onto the cheerleading squad and was becoming good friends with a number of girls from the squad, including Chloe.

Max was beginning to come out of her shell thanks to Claire's encouraging influence. They had been working together along with Claire's father, Noah, to help Max control her ability and learn more about it. Gradually, as Max's control improved, she began to relax around people; including the cheerleaders that Claire was friends with.

Claire was surprised when she noticed that Chloe appeared to be just as happy as she was at Max's new confidence in herself. It was all made clear when Chloe pulled Claire aside one day after practice to talk to her.

"Claire," Chloe said, lightly taking hold of Claire's are and pulling her gently over to the side of the changing room. "I wanted to say thank you to you." Claire looked at Chloe with a confused look on her face.

"Why are you thanking me Chloe?" Claire asked.

"Because you got my friend back. Well started to at least." Chloe paused before continuing, "you see before Max's dad died, well we were best friends." Claire's eyes widened slightly in surprise at Chloe's statement. Chloe just gave a small smile at continued talking. "Yeah I know, you wouldn't really put the two of us together would you. But we grew up together; her dad and mine were old buddies, so we used to play together a lot when we were kids. When we started school we stuck together and looked out for each other. As we grew older we still stuck together, even though our interests were rather different. She'd come to every game that I cheered at and I'd go to every gig she played with her band."

Claire didn't say anything as she took this new information about Max's past on board. Although this did explain why Chloe was always Max's loudest defender when people made comments about her and why Max had been so comfortable joining in with Claire's other friends.

Chloe pulled Claire into a hug and whispered another "thank you" in her ear. She let go of Clare and stepped back, her eyes were glistening slightly from tears that she was holding back. "Right let's go meet everyone for lunch shall we?" Claire nodded and the two girls walked out of the changing room and towards the cafeteria.

As the two girls entered the cafeteria they noticed a group of people gathered around the table that they usually sat at. Claire noticed that it was really quiet, which was strange as usually you would have to almost shout to be heard during the lunch break. They approached the group slowly. As they got closer Claire heard a guitar, then a voice joined in with the guitar.

Claire pushed her way to the front of the group. The last couple of people moved out of the way and she got a clear view of who everyone was stopping to listen to. Max.

She was sat on a table with her feet on a chair, playing an old and beat up acoustic guitar. Claire stood in awe as Max started the chorus of the song she was playing;

_There goes my hero,_

_Watch him as he goes_

_There goes my hero_

_He's ordinary._

Claire was so engrossed with watching Max that she didn't notice Chloe come up behind her.

"Told you she was really into music." She whispered in Claire's ear. Claire could hear the smile in her voice when she spoke again. "What do you think?"

It took Claire a few moments to register the question before answering. "She's… amazing." She stood quietly watching Max until she finished the song. As everyone around her started clapping and cheering Max finally looked up at the crowd and locked eyes with Claire.

They remained in that state until Chloe walked over to Max and put an arm around her shoulder. "Right everyone let the girl get some lunch." Chloe announced to the crowd who gradually started to disperse until only the group who normally sat with them remained.

Chloe turned to Max with a huge grin on her face. "That was great girl. When did you start playing again?" Max finally broke eye contact with Claire to look at Chloe. She gave a small smile, "Couple of weeks ago. Something just seemed right about playing again." Max's eyes flicked back to Claire's before she looked down at her guitar. She climbed down off the table and started to pick up her guitar case. At this point Claire realised that she was still just stood there staring at Max while everyone else had taken a seat at the table. Hoping that no-one had noticed Claire walked up behind Max.

"Hey."

Max turned her head to look at Claire before responding, "Hey to you too." She gave Claire a slightly cheeky grin. "Did you enjoy the show?"

Claire smiled back at her. "Yeah I did. You're really good."

Max closed the lid of her guitar case and turned around to face Claire properly. "That song was for you, you know." She took hold of Claire right hand with hers, "you really are a hero to me. You reminded me that I could control my power rather than have them control me. And you showed me that, even after everything that's happened to me in the last couple of years, I can still be happy."

All Claire could do for a moment was smile at Max. "I'm glad I make you feel happy Max, you deserve to be. You make me feel happy too," Max smiled just as Claire's stomach gave a little growl. "But right now I feel really hungry so let go grab some food shall me." Max nodded as Claire pulled on her hand leading her towards the queue for food.

Chloe, who had overheard the two girl's exchange, watched as they walked off. She was watching them so intently that she didn't even notice the red-haired girl sat next to her was talking to her about her plans for the evening until she tapped her on the shoulder.

"Hey, you listening to me?" the girl asked Chloe.

Chloe turned back round to look at the girl, "sorry got distracted by something."

At five o'clock Claire had just finished another practice. She walked out of the changing rooms and smiled when she saw Max leaning against the lockers on the opposite side of the hall, waiting.

"Did you enjoy the show?" Claire asked as she walked over to Max, mimicking the girl's question from earlier. Max pushed off from the lockers and the girls started to walk out to Claire's car.

"Oh yes it was very entertaining. Especially the part where you fell on top of Katie." Max gave a grin as Claire pushed into her.

"Stop it. That was not funny." Claire attempted to sound stern but couldn't help but smile.

"Well she certainly didn't seem to mind it happening. I certainly wouldn't." Max smirked as she walked around to the passenger's side of the car. Claire stood still contemplating Max's remark until she heard her call to her from the other side of the car. "You gunna open the doors? I'm going grey here!" Claire rolled her eyes at Max as she pressed the button to unlock the doors and got into the car.

On the journey to Claire's house there was the usual conversations about life and some quizzing about Max's musical talents. It turned out that the band Max had played in, before her father died, had recorded some songs and now they, along with Max's replacement, were touring with some other bands. She wasn't resentful about being replaced; in fact she had been the one to find her replacement.

"It just hurt too much to try and play when every time I looked at the guitar, his guitar, it tore me apart inside. But now it doesn't hurt anymore. I still remember him when I play, but I remember the good stuff now not the pain of losing him." Claire could see out of the corner of her eye that, although Max's eyes were moist with tears, she was smiling. They stayed silent for the rest of the journey which allowed Max to compose herself before going inside.

The girls went inside, said hello to Sandra, had the obligatory chat with her about how the day had gone, grabbed a drink each and a packet of cookies from the cupboard and disappeared up to Claire's room. They sat on Claire's bed listening to random songs on the radio while they ate and drank. Claire watched Max as she sang along to Breakaway by Kelly Clarkson. They often spent the afternoon like this, just hanging out. That is until Max noticed the time and would practically run out of the house.

Often Max would appear outside Claire's room a few hours later. Sometimes she would be crying, other times she would be shaking and on the verge of combustion and the rest of the time she would be fine and would climb up to Claire's window with the cheeky grin that had become her signature smile around Claire.

Claire had gotten into a routine now where she would wait by the window so that she could see Max approaching and, when possible, would get to the front door just as Max arrived. She would always be prepared for whatever state Max arrived in. If she was crying, Claire would just get her into the bed and hold her as she cried herself to sleep.

If Max was losing control, Claire would drag her into her bathroom shove her in the shower and turn the cold water on full until she had cooled off. Max would eventually turn the water off and stand in the shower, clothes dripping and with steam coming off her. Claire would hand her a towel then walk out, sit on her bed and wait for Max to emerge.

Max would eventually come out and change into the pajamas that Claire had learnt her that first night she had come over: Claire would try not to look at Max as she changed but more and more often she found herself staring. She kept telling herself that she was just looking at the bruises and cuts that were always present on the other girl's body.

At first Claire hadn't said anything about the marks but as time went on she tried to ask max where they were coming from. Max would always shy away from her questions or give answers that were obviously fabricated to conceal the truth. Eventually she gave up trying to as, but she always kept it in the back of her mind. She was going to figure out what was going on one way or another. The rest of the time they would just go back to what they had been doing before Max had left; they would chat or watch something until they fell asleep.

A couple of nights ago Max had come over and they had watched a movie together. It had been a horror movie and Claire had spent most of the time curled up against Max who had put a protective arm around her. Even being invincible didn't stop Claire from getting scared by a movie. They had fallen asleep in that position and when Claire woke up the next morning, although they had both moved during the night, Max still had her arm around Claire. She'd looked down at Max's hand and realised that their fingers were interlaced. Claire smiled. They were both lying on their left sides so Claire couldn't see if Max was awake. She didn't want to move from the position they were in, it just felt so comfortable. However, they both had school so they'd have to get up eventually. Claire rolled over so that she was facing Max before whispering.

"Morning Max," Max didn't move so Claire whispered a little louder, "Oi Max wake up." Still she didn't move but Claire caught a slight twitch of a smile at the corner of her mouth. Claire slid her hand up to tickle Max's chin. Max tried hard not to giggle but once Claire managed to get her other hand free to tickle her even more Max couldn't stop herself.

Just then Claire snapped back out of her thought when she noticed Max snapping her fingers in front of her face.

"Hellooo? Anybody in there?" Max inquired jokingly. Claire blinked a few times to focus her eyes again.

"Sorry. Dunno what happened there." Claire replied giving Max a smile. Max returned the smile but her eyes showed a hint of concern.

"What were you thinking about? You were out of it for ages."

"I'm fine," Claire replied "I was just thinking about that night we watched that scary movie together." Max started to smile, "Ah yes, where you spent almost the whole movie hiding in my neck."

Claire laughed, "I didn't hear you complaining about it at the time."

"And I'm not complaining now." Max cut in laughing.

"Well good." Claire responded. They sat there giggling for a few minutes before Claire became a bit more serious. "Max, why do you come over at night so often?" Max stopped giggling and her face became hard.

"Do you not like me coming over, because I can go somewhere else if you don't." Claire's eyes widened a bit as she noticed how Max had interpreted what she had said. "No, I love you coming over," Max's stare softened a bit as Claire took one of hands before continuing, " I just worry a bit. Don't your parents wonder where you are most nights?"

Max paused and looked down at her hand before answering "They don't care. Just means that I don't get in the way," Claire didn't say anything else so Max continued to speak "Sometimes. I just wanna get away when I'm stressed or upset and I know that you will help me relax so I come here. But most of the time I just want to spend time with you. I enjoy being with you even if we aren't doing anything. Just being with you makes me happy, I don't know why but you just do." Max looked up from their hands into Claire's eyes.

"I know what you mean. I feel that way too." For a few moments they stared into each other's eyes. Then Max leaned in towards Claire slightly. Before Claire could think about what she was doing she closed the gap between them and their lips met.

At first it was just a soft kiss until something in the two girls sparked. Claire pushed Max backwards so she was lying on the bed and straddled her, not once breaking contact with her lips. Max's hand came up from her sides to caress Claire's back. This produced a moan of pleasure from the blonde and in the moment when her lips parted Max's tounge slid in to play with hers. This was unlike anything Claire had experienced before. It wasn't that she'd never kissed someone before; she'd done that plenty of times, but this was different. It was soft and caring but also passionate.

Claire gave into the pleasure and started to grind against Max. Now it was Max's turn to moan. She sat up with Claire still straddling her and lifted the hem of Claire's t-shirt. Without thinking Claire lifted her arms to allow Max to pull the t-shirt over her head and throw it on the floor. Before Claire could place her lips back onto Max's she felt a small nip on her neck. She leant her head back to expose more of her neck to Max who obligingly started to kiss and nip at the flesh. At one point, Max fastened her mouth over Claire's pulse point and sucked leaving a perfect hickey. Claire let out another moan and started to kiss Max's lips again.

She reached down and pulled up Max's t-shirt. Once it was removed Claire took one quick look at Max's breasts that were still firmly held by her bra, before kissing her neck and working her way back up to her lips. Max's hands moved from caressing Claire's back to grab her firm ass, again producing a moan from the other girl and making her grind even harder against her.

After a while of kissing and caressing Max's mouth moved down Claire's jaw, down her neck and down to the swell of her breasts. Max kissed, licked, nipped and sucked the parts of Claire's breasts she could get to. Claire lent back, pushing out her chest. Max's hands moved up to the clasps of Claire's bra and unhooked it, releasing Claire's firm breasts.

A heartbeat later Max's mouth was on Claire's nipple and Claire's hand was in Max's hair pushing her closer to her chest. Another moan escaped Claire's mouth before she could stop herself.  
Suddenly there was a knock at the door.

"Everything ok in there girls?" Noah asked. The two girls froze.

"Yeah everything's fine Dad." Claire replied hoping that he wouldn't try to come in.

"Ok, well dinner's almost ready and your mother would like you to set the table."

"Alright. I'll be down in a second." With that Claire heard Noah turn around and go back down the stairs.

Claire turned back to face Max just as Max turned back from looking at the clock on the bedside table. She looked at Claire and all Claire could register was the fear in her eyes.

"I have to go, I'm late." Max told her, her voice breaking slightly as she spoke.

Claire climbed off her and picked up her bra while Max grabbed her t-shirt and put it back on. Max stood up and grabbed her bag and guitar from next to Claire's desk.

"Are you going to come back tonight?" Claire asked.

Max turned around to face her, "Do you want me to come back?" Claire walked up to her and placed a small kiss on her lips.

"Of course I do Max."

Max gave a small smile before saying, "Well then I will try my hardest to come back tonight." She kissed Claire again before pulling away and heading towards the door. "I need to go, I'm sorry." She took another look at the time before muttering, "Shit, he's going to kill me," and walking out the room.

Claire stood staring at the door, "Oh my God," Claire thought "that was...wow." She snapped from her thoughts when she heard her father calling her to lay the table again. Claire was quiet during dinner which made Noah worry. He tried to inquire about what was making her so quiet but didn't get much of a response. Eventually he figured his daughter was just being a teenage girl and gave up trying to make conversation with her.

After she'd finished eating Claire got a shower to try and cool off. She couldn't get Max of her head. She was both nervous and excited to see her again. She'd never thought about being with a girl before but the more she thought about Max the more it felt right.

After getting out of the shower Claire dried her hair and started to put on a small amount of make-up. She wanted to look nice for Max when she returned. "That is if she does come back." Claire thought. Now Claire's brain started to go through the comments Max had made as she left that evening and evening before.

Across town Max quietly opened the door to her house hoping that no-one would notice her enter. As she carefully closed the door she heard the footsteps coming towards her.

"Where have you been? Your mother has been worried about you!" Max's stepfather roared at her.

"That's a lie; she's probably too drunk to even recognise me. I'm surprised you can even walk straight, the amount of alcohol I can smell on you!" Max spat back at the man. Her stepfather took a step towards her and grabbed her arm, pulling her across the room towards the kitchen.

Claire dropped the hair brush she was using. It hit her foot before hitting the ground but she didn't respond.

"Oh my God." Claire whispered, shocked that she hadn't figured it out before. She dived for her bag and grabbed her phone to send a text to the one person who knew more about Max than she did.

'_Chlo__ё__, what is Max's family like?'_

She paced while she waited for a response. Her phone vibrated and she grabbed it.

'_Her Mom was really nice and her sister is adorable but her stepdad is an asshole if you ask me and I think she feels the same. Why? What's up?'_

'Shit' Claire thought as she read the text and paled slightly. Everything clicked into place and she hurriedly text Chlow back.

'_What's her address? Something she said to me earlier got me worried and I think it was to do with her stepdad.'_

It wasn't long at all before she got a reply.

'_261 Carlton Street. I'll meet you there. I never trusted that man.'_

She'd obviously been as worried and suspicious as Clare was. After she'd noted down the address she grabbed her coat and sprinted down the stairs. Just as she reached for the front door handle she heard Noah call to her.

"Where are you off to in such a hurry?"

She turned round and blurted out, "I'm off to get Max. She made a comment earlier about how 'he' was going to kill her for being late and she's got all these bruises and cuts and stuff and I think it's from her stepdad because she never talks about her family and Chloe said that he's a real asshole and I'm worried that he's going to do something to her."

She took a deep breath and looked at her father imploring him to let her go. His expression had changed from slight amusement to neutral as he'd listened to her and now he looked thoughtfully concerned.

"What is the address? I'll look into her family's background and she if I can find anything about her stepfather." He said calmly.

Claire released the breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding and handed him the paper with the address on it. Noah looked at the paper quickly before putting it in his trouser pocket.

"Go on. Go check to make sure Max is ok. If you feel she is unsafe or has been harmed bring her back here for the night and we will take care of her. But be careful it could be a very delicate situation." He told her. Claire ran over to him and gave him a big hug and a quick "thank you Dad," before running out the front door and to her car.

She climbed in and started the engine. After punching in the address into the GPS she reversed off the drive and sped off into the night, all the while worrying more and more about what might be happening to Max.

"Oh fuck off you bastard! You know nothing about me!"

Claire swore as she turned the car around. She'd have to find another way around the road works that were blocking her route.

"Get back! I said get back! GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME YOU IDIOTS!"

Claire looked at the message she'd received from Chloe as she waited for the light to change.

'_I'm 10 mins out from Max's. Don't' worry we'll look after her.'_

Claire chucked the phone onto the passenger seat as the lights changed and hit the gas. She was close so the street she wanted so she slowed down slightly so that she could read the street names, she didn't trust the GPS to get it right. She was focusing so hard on reading the street names that she didn't notice the glow coming from a few streets down.

"There it is, Carlton Street."

She turned down the street and braked suddenly causing the car to jerk to a halt. She stared down the street for a few seconds at the house engulfed in flames before racing off towards it praying that it wasn't the house she was after.

"255, 257, 259… Shit!" Claire exclaimed as she pulled up outside the house, jumped out of the car and sprinted towards the burning building.


	7. Burning Houses, Buring Bridges

Happy New Year Everyone! And I am sooo sorry it's taken me ages to update this story again. I unfortunately suffered a massive bout of writers block and wasn't able to write anything for ages and then I was inundated with work and family commitments along with a LOT of snow to play in XD. But I sat down this evening and had a read through the small amount I had already written for this chapter and found my writers block had cleared up. So here I bring you the fifth chapter in this series I hope you enjoy it.

As always there are dark themes and femslash. I still don't own Claire or Noah. Please R & R XD.

**Chapter 5 – Burning Houses, Burning Bridges**

"255, 257, 259… Shit!" Claire exclaimed as she pulled up outside the house, jumped out of the car and sprinted towards the burning building.

Claire smashed through the front door and started screaming as loud as she could, "Max! Max! Are you in here?" She frantically searched the rooms on the ground floor and then the rooms upstairs for any sign of Max, of anyone. When she didn't find anyone she made her way back to the stairs. The flames below had almost fully engulfed the wooden staircase. Claire started to make her way down carefully but as she got halfway down she heard the creaking sound of the wood below her about to give way so she jumped the remainder of the stairs. Hitting the floor hard and smacking into the wall in front of her Claire took a quick look back to see the stairs collapse into a pile of rubble as the flames moved in the burn it to ash. She ran back out the doorway and towards her car intending to call 911.

Just as Claire reached her car a fire truck followed by two police cars and an ambulance pulled up outside the house. The firemen jumped out and started to get the equipment sorted to tackle the blaze. The policemen got out a looked around the roads for any signs of people who may have seen what happened. They spotted Claire and called to her to come over to them. She approached them slowly glancing at the house which was fully engulfed now.

"Ma'am did you see what happened here?" The first officer asked her.

"No sir, when I arrived here the building was already on fire." She replied indicating the house.

"Ok. Did you see or hear anyone inside the building?"

"No there's no-one in there." Claire said hoping that they wouldn't ask how she knew there was no-one in the house.

"Are you from around here? Did you know the occupants?" The second officer asked whilst writing something in his notebook.

"No I'm not from here, my... friend lives here. I came over to see her but like I said when I got here the house was already on fire and she wasn't nearby." Claire said calmly.

"Ok ma'am if you don't mind could you give us some contact details in case we need to get in touch with you again about this?" The second officer asked. Claire nodded and started to tell him her address when there was a loud yell from nearby.

"Finally! We called you people ages ago!" The large man walking around the side of the building roared. He was followed by a woman and a small girl dressed in a nightdress. "That bitch better pay for this!" the man continued to roar. "Look at my house! What are we supposed to do now?" The man approached the police officers talking to Claire. She took a good look at him now that he was in the light. He had a hard face and was starting to bald slightly on the top of his head. Claire had noted as he walked over that he was large but now he was closer she saw that it was mostly from muscle and he stood at least a head taller than the two officers.

"Sir, if you could calm down for a moment and tell us what happened here then we can help you," said the first officer looking up at the man in front of him. The man took a breath, folded his arms across his chest and nodded to the officer. "Now I'm guessing you are the home owner sir," the man nodded, "and what is your name sir?"

"Brett, Brett Miller." The man replied and the second officer jotted it down in his note book.

"Mr Miller, did you say you know who started this fire?" the officer asked.

"Yes. It was that little bitch of a step-daughter! Max! She's a fucking freak!" Brett roared causing the officers to take a step back from him and one of them to put his hand on his side-arm. At this point the woman who had been stood a few paces behind the man now stepped up and but a hand on his arm.

She spoke quietly to him in a nervous voice, "don't speak like that in front of the police dear they will get the wrong impression." Now she turned to the officers and added. "She didn't mean to do it. It was all just an unfortunate accident really." Claire jumped as she felt something brush against her arm. She turned to see Chloe stood beside her staring and the house which was now only smouldering in the background.

"What the hell happened?" Chloe whispered to Claire.

"I don't know the house was already on fire when I got here."

"Max?" Chloe asked concernedly.

"No sign of her." Claire replied before being cut off by Brett's shouting.

"Don't be stupid Linda she's insane! She should be locked away! She's dangerous I tell you!" He yelled at the officers. Now Claire stepped forward. Brett and Linda looked at her slightly startled by her presence.

"Maybe if you didn't hit her so much she wouldn't respond in that way!" Claire yelled at him not caring that all the people who had come out of their homes to witness what was happening were now staring at her.

The man started to seethe with anger, "Who the hell do you think you are talking to me like that! And how dare you suggest…"

"You're Claire, Max's friend, aren't you?" the small girl piped up from behind her mother cutting in over the man. Claire's eyebrows shot up in surprise as the girl seemed to know who she was. Her mother turned her head towards her.

"Be quiet Sarah and don't interrupt your father like that." She turned back towards Claire who responded to the child.

"Yes I am. Do you know where Max is?" The girl shook her head before saying.

"She said she was going to go to a safe place for a while where she could get some help. If you find her will you help her?" Claire smiled and nodded which earned her a shy little smile from the girl.

"You will not help her!" Brett roared again, "She's a criminal and out of control! She's lucky we aren't all dead in there!"

It was Claire's turn to yell again, "The only reason for her to be out of control is because of you, you monster! She can't help what she does, it's not her fault and if you understood that like her real father did then you wouldn't hurt her like you do." Brett looked as if he was about to explode but Claire spoke up again before he could say anything. "And don't try to deny that you hurt her. I've seen the scars, I've seen the bruises. How many times have you let her leave to house with a black eye? Or a split lip? Or how about the time you hit her so hard that she cracked two ribs!" Now Claire had the attention of a very large group of people who were observing the action closely.

"She begged me not to take her to the hospital when that happened. Begged me not to ask how it happened but now it's so very clear how it happened!"

The police officers who up until this point had been in too much shock to do anything cut in and tried to diffuse the situation. Especially as Brett seemed about ready to rip someone's head off and all that anger was now focused on Claire.

"These are very strong accusations you are making against this man, ma'am. Are you sure about this?" The first officer who had spoken to Claire asked.

"Yes like I said I've seen what he's done to her with my own eyes on multiple occasions." Claire responded sounding a little exasperated.

"I've seen it too a few times." Chloe chimed in causing everyone around her to look at her as no-one apart from Claire had been aware of her arrival.

"Well if Max would like to file a complaint about Mr Miller she will have to come to the station and make one. Until then I will need for Mr Miller and his family to come with us and give us some more information about what happened. If you have no more information for us then I suggest you make your way home. But please if you have any more information or see Max please let us know." The officer told the two girls who nodded and turned to walk away.

"If you see that bitch tell her she's no longer welcome in my house! I never what to see her pathetic face again!" Brett shouted after the girls from behind the officer.

Chloe took Claire's arm to stop her from turning back and yelling at Brett some more. "Don't worry we'll find Max and sort this out. We won't let her go back to that place, especially while he's there," she told Claire. They made it to Claire's car and she unlocked the door. "Do you know where she might be?" Chloe asked before Claire opened the door fully.

"I have an idea and I hope I'm right because if I'm not I have no idea where we might find her." Claire replied climbing into the car but not shutting the door. "Do you want to come over to mine and we can start searching together?" Chloe nodded before replying "I'll follow you," and walking over to her own car and pulling up to Claire's.

The girls made their way back to Claire's house and pulled onto the drive before getting out and heading into the house. Noah was as at the kitchen table waiting for Claire.

"Dad, we need to find Max. There's been a big problem at her house and I need to talk to her." Claire rushed towards her dad who stood up to give Claire a calming hug.

"It's ok Claire bear. Max is here she arrived about ten minutes ago. She told me what happened and I will make some calls now that I know you are safe. She's up in your room waiting for you." Now Noah turned to look at Chloe. "You must be Chloe." He held out his had to shake Chloe's. "I'm sorry that we've had to meet under such bad circumstances but Claire has told me plenty about you and it's nice to have finally met you."

"Same to you, sir." Chloe replied.

"Come on Chloe let's go make sure Max is ok." Claire said as she grabbed Chloe's arm and dragged her up to her room. The girls burst through the door to see Max stood looking out of the window. Claire ran over to Max and pulled her in for a massive hug before letting her go pulling her in for a long hard kiss which lasted until Chloe made a coughing sound which caused Max to jump away.

Chloe smiled at the two girls and said "so you guys are finally getting it on."


	8. The Wonders of Blood

Alright guys, here is the next chapter for you. It's another long chapter to make up for my inability to update regularly. I don't know how long it will be till I can update again as it's that horrible time of the year when exams rule my life for a few weeks. I will try and get another chapter up soon but I hope that this will tide you over until I have a bit of free time to do some writing again.

A massive thank you to Riana Kiaba for being a beta reader for me! Please don't forget to review I always love to get reviews it makes me smile XD.

**Chapter 6 – The Wonders of Blood**

Chloe's smile grew larger as Max turned her head away looking slightly embarrassed. Claire gave a shy smile and looked at Chloe. "You don't have a problem with this, do you?" Claire inclined her head towards Max whilst still looking at Chloe.

Chloe rolled her eyes at Claire. "Oh come on I've been waiting for you two to admit you like each other for weeks!" she exclaimed before walking up to the girls and pulling them both in for a hug. Max finally spoke as Chloe released them.

"I'm so sorry you guys got dragged into all this," she mumbled whilst looking at the floor. "I never meant for anything like this to happen. Normally I can control it enough for me to be able to get away to a safe place to let it out but this time…" she trailed off and turned away from the other two girls, releasing Claire in the progress. There was a long pause before;

"Max what happened?" It was Chloe who spoke the question that was hanging between them. At first they thought Max wasn't going to answer but she eventually sighed and turned to face them properly, finally making eye contact with Claire and Chloe. Chloe gasped as did Claire, even though she had seen the damage that Max's stepfather could do before.

Max's left eye was swollen shut and turning black, her nose looked as if it had been broken and had been roughly reset, her lip was split in two places and there was another bruise blossoming on her right jaw. The girl looked as if she had been in a boxing match against a heavyweight champion, which considering the size of her stepfather probably wasn't far off. Although she couldn't see the marks the way Max was holding herself told Claire that the two ribs that had been broken not too long ago and were only just starting to heal had been broken again. Claire wanted to go back and find Brett and beat him around a bit to see how he liked it, or better still hit him with her SUV.

A loud sniffing sound from next to her brought Claire back from her aggressive thoughts before they could get to far. Chloe had started to cry.

"Max, why didn't you tell me about all this when it started? Why did you just withdraw from us all? We would've helped you. You could've stayed with me until we could figure out how to deal with that monster your mother married!" Chloe babbled and Claire hugged her letting her cry into her shoulder. Max went back to looking at the floor before replying.

"Sarah." Chloe stopped crying and gave another sniff.

"What?" she asked.

"Sarah… That's why I couldn't leave. If I wasn't there to take it all he'd turn on her. She's too young to understand why he's doing it and too fragile to take a beating from him, especially when he's feeling really pissed off. I just couldn't. After dad died and mum started drinking it was like she became the only family I had anymore. And I had to look after her."

"But why didn't you tell any of us?" Chloe cried back.

"Because, apart from the marks on my body and my word, I had nothing against him. My mother would never speak up against him and like I said Sarah was too young to understand fully." She paused and sighed again. "I guess I didn't want to admit that it was happening. By distancing myself from people it made it seem like maybe it wasn't really that bad, I wouldn't get people's reactions every time they saw me or spoke to me. I could avoid all contact with people when it was really bad and people wouldn't notice or wouldn't say anything if they did."

Chloe pulled away from Claire so that she could walk over to Max and give her a gentle hug. Claire saw the girl wince in pain before sighing and relaxing into the hug and smiling slightly. When Chloe let go Max said, "You know, apart from the hug you gave the two of us when you came in, that's the first hug you've given me in over a year." Her smile widened slightly when Chloe chuckled and smiled too, but soon had to stop smiling as it was pulling the splits in her lip.

"So what are we going to do about this now?" Claire cut in, not wanting to ruin the happy moment but knowing that the sooner they sorted this all out the better.

"I guess I should go and turn myself into the police…"

"Oh no you won't!" the other two girls shouted. Max flinched slightly at this and Claire cut in again.

"Max, you didn't do anything wrong. It wasn't your fault what happened; you were provoked and acting in self-defence. If anyone's to blame here it's your stepfather. He's the one that made this all happen." Max nodded slightly in agreement.

"Ok then, so what are we going to do?" Chloe asked.

"We'll talk things over with my dad tomorrow. He knows a number of people who should be able to help with this. In the meantime, Max can stay here and we will look after her. You can stay tonight as well if you want to Chloe, I'm sure my Dad won't mind." Claire responded. Chloe shook her head slightly.

"No, I should get home. I didn't really explain what was going on to my parents. I just told them there was a bit of an emergency and I didn't know when I would be back. I don't want to worry them anymore then I already have."

Claire nodded, "Alright then, you can go home and let your parents know you're ok. Max will stay here and we can start to sort this whole mess out in the morning with my Dad." Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Right then I should probably get going then." Chloe said before stepping towards Max to give her another hug and whispering, "I will always be here to help you if you need it hun." She pulled back and Claire lead her back down to the front door while Max stayed in the room. Before they reached the front door though Chloe stopped and turned to face Claire.

"When you said that she couldn't help what happened, what did you mean? The house was on fire, what happened?"

Claire took a deep breath; she had known that she would have to explain this to Chloe eventually and it was better to do it know so that she had time to take it in and understand it all before seeing Max again. "Max is special. She has a mutation in her genetic code that has caused her to develop a power that normal humans don't have. In her case it's controlling and manipulating fire and heat, but there are a number of other people with different types of powers. For example, I heal and regenerate super-fast and I can't feel pain." Claire paused to let Chloe, whose eyes widened the more Claire told her, take all the information in before continuing. "Max hasn't got a very strong control over her power at the moment, although we have been working on it and she has been improving, but when she gets very emotional she can lose control. I'm guessing that what happened today is that she got so angry she couldn't control it anymore, or at least couldn't control it enough to get away in time." She gave Chloe a few moments to regain her composure.

"Wow," was the only response Claire got from her to begin with. "I always knew there was something different about her but I never realised it was that big," Chloe finally said. "And she's been dealing with all of this on her own. Why didn't she tell me?" Chloe looked very sad at the fact that the girl who had been her best friend for so many years didn't feel like she could tell her about something as big as this.

"Well she had her Dad to help her through it all and learn how to control it, until he passed away at least. Then I guess everything really went downhill from there for her." Claire offered as an explanation.

"I guess," replied Chloe. "Well I should get going. I'll come by after school tomorrow as I'm guessing I probably won't see you there." Claire nodded. Chloe gave her a big hug before saying, "you take good care of her tonight," and with that Chloe was out the door.

When Claire turned around Noah was stood in the doorway to the living room. "We will need to talk about this," he told Claire seriously.

"I know Dad. Can we wait until the morning though, I don't think Max can take much more tonight."

Noah nodded. "Of course we can Claire bear. And make sure Max knows that she is welcome to stay here for as long as she needs to. I won't let her go back home until I know everything is sorted out."

Claire walked up to her father and gave him a big hug. "Thank you, Dad, for everything." She replied as she let go and headed towards the stairs. She stopped with her foot hovering just above the first step. "Dad?"

Noah turned back to face his daughter. "Yes Claire bear?"

"When you got shot through the eye and the Company brought you back to life, they used my blood didn't they?" she questioned.

Noah paused before answering, knowing where his daughter was going with this. "Yes they did."

"Do you still have any left from what they gave you back?"

Noah looked over his shoulder at Sandra sat in front of the TV and walked over to Claire. "Yes I still have some. I kept it in case of an emergency and I guess this could be classed as a slight emergency. But I won't give it to Max if she doesn't want it. It will also mean that there will be no proof of the damage that was done to her before the fire started."

Claire stopped to think about this. "I'll talk to her about it. Can you get it ready in case she wants it?"

Noah nodded, "yes I'll go and sort it out now." He walked off to his study to sort it out and Claire went back upstairs to Max.

When Claire entered the room she saw Max staring at herself in the mirror. She was stood in her underwear, the rest of her clothes lay discarded in a pile on the floor. Claire shut the door softly and walked over to her. She stood behind Max and looked at the girl's reflection. Looking at the bruises on her torso Claire could tell that her initial assessment about Max's ribs was most likely correct. 'How did she manage to get her t-shirt off without making a sound?' Claire thought to herself.

Their eyes met in the mirror and they held each other's gaze for a minute before Claire broke the silence between them.

"I have a way to get rid of it all." Max turned round to face Claire with a confused look on her face. "The injuries," Claire continued.

"How?" Max cut in with a hint of desperation in her voice.

"My blood," Claire paused as Max's eyes widened in shock and she opened her mouth as if going to speak but nothing came out so Claire carried on.

"My blood has amazing healing properties. I can heal everything; your cuts, your bruises, your bones," she told her whilst bowing her head to indicate Max's broken ribs. Max nodded in a way that told Claire she understood but when she spoke there was a hesitant tone in her voice and what Claire thought was a hint of fear.

"But without the marks from what he did to me how will we be able to prove what happened?"

Claire paused, she had thought about this briefly when she was speaking to her dad about it but hadn't come up with anything until now.

"What if we take photographs of all the injuries?" she offered sounding hopeful. She didn't want Max to be in pain or injured any longer than was really necessary, which in theory wasn't that long if she could convince her to take the blood.

"I guess that could work," Max replied after thinking it over for a minute. "But how would we explain the sudden disappearance of all my injuries?"

Claire was much quicker to answer this time, "If we need to I can show them what I can do to prove it to them." Again Max's eyes widened in shock at Claire's comment. It was one thing to tell another special person about your abilities but it was something else entirely to reveal yourself to 'average Joe' who could never understand what you go through just by being different.

"No I couldn't let you do that," she finally spluttered out.

Claire smiled softly and, careful to avoid her broken ribs, wrapped her arms around the other girl's waist pulled her in for a hug and kissed her forehead.

"I would do anything for you Max. You deserve so much better than life has given you." She placed another kiss on Max's forehead. Max lifted her head to look into Claire's eyes again.

"Life brought me to you," she paused, "and I would put up with twice the amount of shit I have so far if it meant I could be with you." Now Max leaned closer and placed her lips on Claire's. It was a simple kiss, but in its simplicity Claire could feel the complexity of Max's emotions; gratitude, sadness, happiness, fear, safety and… love.

Claire opened her eyes as Max pulled back and the feeling sunk in. 'Is that what this is? Love?' she thought quickly before realising that she didn't have time to dwell on that thought right now as there were more pressing issues at hand, like whether they were going to use her blood.

"I'll do it." Max's voice broke Claire's train of thought and snapped her back to reality.

"Huh?" Claire responded.

Max took a breath and let it out. "I'll take your blood. But only if we take the photos. We can figure out some way to explain it all later." Claire smiled and gave her one small squeeze before letting go.

"I'll go and tell my Dad and get a camera," she told her before disappearing out of the door.

It took them a while to photograph all of Max's injuries because they both wanted to make sure that they didn't miss anything and that all of the pictures were clear. Then when Claire had found some suitable clothes to lend her; a pair of grey sweatpants and a plain white vest, Noah helped them to set up the transfusion of Claire's blood.

Max lay on the bed with the IV in her left arm and Claire sat next to her on the bed. Noah sat in a chair that was near the window while he watched over the two girls.

After a few minutes Claire could see that her blood was getting to work. The first things to heal were the cuts, followed by the bruises and then the bones. She heard Max's breathing become easier and knew it had done the trick, she was completely healed.

Noah unhooked the IV and turned to speak to them, "Don't worry about getting up for school in the morning. I'm going to speak with them and get you off for the day, I'm sure they won't mind given the circumstances." Claire nodded and gave her dad a kiss on the cheek before her left to girls alone.

Neither of the girls felt particularly tired so Claire lay back on the bed and got Max to come and snuggle into her.

The girls lay on the bed together with Max resting her head on Claire's chest and Claire's arm protectively placed around Max's shoulder, pulling her in closer. They lay like this in silence for a while before Claire lifted her head up slightly and asked,

"What was it like for you before your dad passed away?"

Max lifted her head up and rolled on to her front so that she could look at Claire properly.

"It was good. We were your typical happy family. We lived in a house similar to this one, my dad had a good job and my mother was a housewife. Dad helped me to soundproof the garage so that me and the band could practice in there without disturbing everyone on the street too much." Max gave a grin at this statement.

For the next half an hour Max told Claire about some of the things that her and her dad used to get up to. She could tell that, even before Max's power started to show, they had been very close.

"And then when we found out about my ability, well, I thought he was going to disown me. After all I did nearly set him on fire. But he was amazing about it. He would take me out to this old abandoned warehouse a couple of miles away and help me learn to control it, just like you and Noah have been doing. God knows how he put up with it all, given the number of times I nearly set him on fire, but after a couple of months I was able to keep it under control almost all the time. The only times I lost control were when I was really, really scared, but Dad decided that it was probably a good idea to leave it that way in case I was ever in danger…" Max trailed off and closed her eyes.

"He was right, it was a good idea." She said under her breath.

When Max didn't say anything for another minute Claire gave her a nudge after another pause she continued.

"One day when we were practicing my control when a van came bursting through the big doors that were where the loading bays used to be for the warehouse. The van skidded to a stop and my dad pushed me away and told me to hide behind a set of crates that were in the warehouse. Four men got out of the van wearing ski masks and carrying guns. They started to unload some bags from the van before one of them spotted my dad trying to back away and hide like I was. They started yelling at him and he just had his hands up and was backing away. Then one of them shot him, they just shot him. He hit the ground and looked at me." Max paused again and Claire watched as a tear fell down her cheek. Claire placed a soft kiss on Max's lips.

"It's ok, you don't have to say anymore," she whispered against her lips before pulling back.

Max shook her head slightly and spoke again. "No, I want to tell someone. I want to tell you." She gave Claire a small smile which she returned before placing another kiss on Max's lips and letting her continue.

"He was lying on the floor bleeding and he just whispered to me that he loved me and was so proud of me and then he told me to leave him and run as fast as I could. I didn't want to leave him but I knew I had to, so I ran. One of them spotted me running and they tried to shot me too but my instincts took over and as soon as the first bullet shot past me I threw up my arms and a wall of fire came up between me and the men. I carried on running and I could hear them shouting to get back in the van because the flames were spreading everywhere." She paused again.

"The next thing I remember was running all the way back home and bursting through the door crying. I tried to tell my mother what had happened but I couldn't get the words out properly. Eventually she figured out that something had happened to us in the warehouse but I couldn't tell her what. She found out eventually of course, once the police identified the body and came to tell us. I don't think my mother ever really forgave me for what happened. Hell I don't think I've ever forgiven myself."

"It wasn't your fault Max. Did they ever catch the guys who did it?" Claire cut in.

Max nodded. "Yeah after a couple of months they caught them trying to rob a bank, which is apparently what they had been doing the day they killed my dad. They're still in prison last I heard and still be in there for another 20 years at least." Max gave a half-hearted smile and looked into Claire's eyes.

Claire knew she couldn't change anything that had happened to Max but she knew that she could look after her from now on.

"I'm never going to let you get hurt like that again." She kissed Max again but a little harder than before. She felt Max's lips part and she let her tongue play with Max's allowing the kiss to deepen more. The next thing Claire knew Max had climbed on top of her and was now straddling her hips. Claire felt Max's hands worked their way gently up and down her sides in a soft caress. Claire let out a soft moan and laced one hand into Max's dark hair while the other found its way to the small of her back and pushed her down onto her even more.

Claire's hands soon found their way under the hem of Max's vest and lifted it up over her head breaking the kiss temporarily. Max quickly followed suit pulling Claire's t-shirt over her head so that both girls were now topless. The kissing continued until Max broke the kiss again so that she could kiss down Claire's jaw and neck to the point at which her neck joined her shoulder. Max nipped at the skin, which caused Claire to gasp with pleasure.

She worked her way back to Claire's lips and started to kiss her again. Before the kiss could heat up too much, Claire's hand found its way to the clasp of Max's bra and unhooked it. Max was too preoccupied by the kissing to notice Claire crafty move until Claire was already pulling it off. She sat up so that Claire could take the straps off her arms and Claire got her first good look at Max's breasts. Claire brought her hands up Max's torso, caressing her as she went, until her hands cupped her breasts. Max threw her head back a pushed her chest forward as Claire started to roll her nipples with her thumb and forefinger. The moan that emanated from Max's mouth was enough to make Claire hesitate as she was worried her parents would hear them. The last thing she wanted was for Noah to interrupt them again, especially when she was feeling this good.

Max leaned forward again and scooped her arm under Claire so that she could lift her up enough to unhook Claire's bra and remove it. Claire gasped when Max kissed her again and she felt their bodies pressed against each other, skin on skin. She loved the feeling and started to caress up and down Max's back and sides before moving down to grab her ass.

Claire felt Max lift off her as she broke the kiss again and started to move down her torso leaving a trail of kisses down to her breasts. Max fastened her mouth onto one of Claire's very hard nipples and started to play with it using her tongue. The sensations that ran through Claire's body were ones that she had never experienced before, but she knew straight away that she would want to experience them many more times, especially with Max.

Max lifted off Claire's nipple, much to Claire's disapproval until she realised where Max was now heading. She had just reached the top of Claire's trousers when Claire moaned, "Stop." Max stopped instantly as came back up so she was face to face with Claire again.

"What's wrong?" she panted slightly.

Claire brought a hand up and placed it on Max's cheek, where the tear marks were still slightly visible from earlier. "I think I want to wait. We're both emotional right now and I want it to be perfect. Not that this is perfect right now," she added quickly. "I just want us to be in a better place before doing this."

Max smiled at her, "It's ok I understand. We can take it as fast or as slow as you want to. I'm happy to wait if it means I get to be with you." Claire smiled back.

"Come on let's get ready for bed." Claire said sitting up. Max climbed off her so that Claire could get up off the bed. As she stood Claire looked back at Max over her shoulder and said, "That doesn't mean we have to stop making out though,"

Claire gave her a very cheeky smile which she saw mirrored on the other girl's face.


	9. Past, Present and Future

3 Happy Valentine's Day! 3

I apologise for this being a slightly shorter update than usual I didn't finish it quite where I wanted too because I wanted to get this up in time as a Valentine treat for you all, which is also why this hasn't been beta read by anyone so I apologise now for any mistake (that and the fact that I writing this in the middle of the night here!). Now that exams are over and my timetable isn't too bad at the moment I should be able to have another update for you soon hopefully XD.

Dark themes, abuse, femmeslash, etc. etc. etc. and as always I do not own Claire, Noah or Sandra.

Please read and review as I love to hear from you about how you are finding the story and how I might improve my writing. Lots of Valentine's Day love for you all!

**Chapter 7 – Past, Present and Future**

When Claire awoke the next morning she glanced at the clock on her bedside table. '8 o'clock. Trust me to still wake up early when I know I don't have to,' she thought to herself before turning her attention to the brunette who was cuddled up into her side with her right leg hooked up over her own. Claire smiled as she saw how peaceful Max looked while she was sleeping. It had been a rough night for both of them. Max had been tossing and turning a lot and kept talking in her sleep. At one point Claire was able to make out enough of what Max was saying to realise that she was talking to her sister, Sarah. Max was telling her that it was ok; that they were safe now and the bad man wouldn't be able to hurt her sister anymore. As Claire had listened to Max's conversation with her sister she had felt the tears start rolling down her cheeks. 'How could all this happen to someone so sweet and caring?' she had thought as she pulled Max into herself whilst trying not to wake her.

The night hadn't been all bad though. The things that had happened just before they got ready for bed certainly hadn't been bad, quite the opposite in fact, it had been amazing. And what they did after getting ready for bed wasn't bad either.

They had lain together and were making out whilst letting their hands wander, to an extent. They had to keep stopping every now and again when hands roamed too far. They ended up settling with Max having her hand on Claire's stomach with her finger tips just brushing the skin below the waistband of her pyjama bottoms. As Claire remembered this she felt a wave of pleasure and excitement run through her.

She had a few boyfriends before moving here, but none of them had made her feel the way Max did when she kissed her. It wasn't just kissing that affected her. Whenever they touched it was like a jolt of energy coursed through her veins. It was a truly amazing feeling. 'What is this between us? Is it love?' she thought to herself as she had the previous night. 'I know that I care for her, a lot, and I would do anything I could to see her happy but… do I **love** her?'

She looked down at Max who was still fast asleep and smiled. 'I definitely have a physical attraction to her. So I guess I should see where this goes, at least for now.' She gave a small nod, agreeing with her own conclusion.

The movement caused Max to stir slightly and Claire placed her lips softly onto hers which made her give a sleepy moan of pleasure before slowly opening her eyes. This caused Claire to chuckle so when Max finally opened her eyes fully she was greeted by a huge smile. Max's eyes narrowed slightly and she looked at Claire suspiciously.

"What are you so cheery about this morning?" she asked. Claire smile widened slightly in response before replying;

"Well I just got to wake up next to my gorgeous girlfriend, so I think I'm allowed to be cheery."

Max raised an eyebrow as a smile curved on her lips. "Girlfriend? Huh well…" Before she could say anything more there was a light knock at the door. The girls shuffled away to opposite sides of the bed as Claire said, "yeah?"

Sandra opened the door and came in. "Oh, you're both up. I was just making your father some breakfast, would you like me to make some for you two as well?" as she finished speaking she looked at Max and gave her a warm smile.

"I forgot that all happened last night." Max said quietly as she looked down at her food.

"Hey, look at me," Claire said, pulling Max's face towards her. "He'll only want to talk about what we are going to do to help you. Don't worry he's not going to make you go back there." She gave a comforting smile and pulled Max into a tight hug.

Max gave her the cutest little smile Claire had ever seen and all she wanted to do was kiss her until they were both able to forget what had happened again. And she would have if her mother hadn't picked that exact moment to return to the kitchen.

"Have you girls finished?" Sandra asked smiling at the girls form behind the pile of bed linin in her arms. Claire nodded and added "We're going to go get dressed," before pulling Max back up to her room. When they got into her room Claire closed the door and pulled Max into her arms again. As she pulled out of the hug she looked into Max's eyes and gave her a quick peck on the lips before releasing her and walking towards the chest of draws to pull out some clothes for them to wear.

When she looked back Max was still just stood there near the door. Claire walked back over to her and put her arms around her again and stood there waiting for her to look up at her. When she finally looked up into Claire's eyes she held her gaze as she gave Max a small smile and a very soft kiss on her lips.

"Everything will be ok. I promise," she said quietly against Max's lips. Max gave a small gasp and let out a soft moan as she felt Claire's breath wash over her lips. As Claire pulled back once more Max gave her a shy smile and nodded slightly. Claire let go and the two girls walked over to the chest of draws.

After finding Max some suitable clothes to wear and choosing her own outfit, Claire knocked on her father's office door. She heard a muffled, "come in," before pushing the door open and entering, followed closely by Max. Noah motioned towards the two chairs that were by a coffee table in the middle of the room and the girls sat down. Noah stood up and brought his desk chair around to the coffee table so that he could sit down too.

Once they were all sat down Noah looked from Max to Claire before settling his focus back on Max again. "Now, Max. We need to discuss your options." Max nodded in understanding and Noah continued. "I have spoken with Sandra and she is more than happy to look after you for as long as is required, as am I. So you will not have to go back to living with your step father if you don't want to. However," Noah paused to make sure he had her full attention before continuing. "Max it is very important that you try and control your power at this time, for your own safety as well as those around you. I have spoken to a few of my contacts concerning your situation and they have assured me that they can get the case against you dropped as long as it will not happen again."

Max's eyes widened as Noah spoke and she cut in before he could say any more. "Does this mean I won't have to go to… prison?" she whispered the last word with fear.

"No you won't as long as you keep it under control. Of course Claire and I will continue to help you practice your control and support you in any other way you need." He smiled at Max as her eyes began to water slightly. Claire stood up and walked over to Max's chair and sat on the arm before wrapping her arms around Max and pulling her in tightly.

"Now Max I know that this will be hard but I need you to tell me more about Brett and how long ago he started to hurt you." Noah reached over the coffee table and placed a reassuring hand on Max's leg. She nodded slightly before taking in a deep breath and exhaling. Turning to look at Claire then looking back to Noah she began,

"As I'm sure you can imagine, my Dad's death was a bit of a shock to my Mom and it was hard on all of us. About a week after Dad died she started drinking. A few months later I came home from school one day to find her passed out on the couch with a couple of bottles of wine empty on the floor beside her. Sarah wasn't in the house and when I tried to ask Mom where she was she started yelling at me about how this was all my fault, so I walked out. Eventually I found out that she hadn't even shown to pick up Sarah from school that afternoon but fortunately a friend of my Dads had taken her when he picked up his kids."

Claire was shocked to hear this; she couldn't imagine what it must have been like for Max to come home to that, let alone what Sarah must have gone through. She let her arm drop behind Max and started to rub soothing circles which made Max close her eyes for a second and inhale before continuing.

"That was the last straw. I told my mom that if she didn't sort herself out I was going to leave and I was going to make sure that Sarah came with me there was no way that I was going to leave Sarah alone with her anymore and I wasn't going to let her get lost in the foster system either. I think me threatening to take Sarah away was why she finally agreed to start going to AA meetings and stop drinking. That's where she met the wonderful Brett." Max gave a slightly evil smirk when she spoke her step father's name but continued as if she hadn't.

"Brett seemed to be a really nice guy when I met him about a month after she'd started going to meetings. He seemed to make her happier and that helped her avoid falling back into drinking. I didn't think anything of it when they decided to get married after six months; I think I just put it down to my mom wanting to get over my Dad as quickly as she could and she saw this as a good place to start. It was about a week after they got married that it started." Max looked sombrely at Claire and then Noah who nodded at her to continue.

"He had been out with some 'friends' celebrating his new marriage and had fallen of the wagon. He came home drunk and was swearing at my Mom to come and do things to him. Things a teenage daughter does not need to hear about. When she said she wasn't in the mood and didn't want to he hit her. I saw it happen and threatened to call the cops if he didn't get out of the house right away, so he did. But in the morning he came back and apologised to my Mom saying it would never happen again and she took him back."

Max sighed while Claire continued to rub soothing circles on her back.

"I know this is hard to talk about Max but I need to know everything you can tell me." Noah said softly. Max closed her eyes again and nodded slightly.

"I think it was about two weeks later when I came home and found them both drunk. I don't know what happened to make them both start drinking again but from that day onwards it just began another downwards spiral. He would still try and hit my Mom when she wouldn't do what he told her but soon he would start trying to hurt me because I was the strong one, I was the one who would still stand up and defy him. Eventually he stopped hurting my Mom for the most part because she would always do anything he asked her to do, but I refused, so the beatings just kept coming. And well you know where that led to," Max finished gesturing to them being sat around having to talk about this.

Once she had finished tell them about the events that had led to the previous night she sat back in the chair and leaned her head against Claire, who moved her arm to being back around Max's shoulder. Noah sat back to, crossing his legs and thought.

After a few minutes silence Noah finally spoke again. "Max, did you have any belongings that weren't in the house when it burnt down?"

Max nodded, "yeah I always kept some stuff in the warehouse that me and my Dad used to practice in, in case I had to spend the night away from home."

"Ok then. Claire I want you to take Max to collect her things and bring them back here." Noah told his daughter who nodded in agreement. "I'll ask Sandra to make sure that the spare bedroom is made up for you and you can put your things in there when you get back."

"Thank you so much Mr Bennett. You really don't have to do all this for me though." Max interjected.

"Don't be silly Max; we're not going to let you out on the street with nothing!" Claire exclaimed, causing Max to jump slightly.

"She's right Max. We're here for you and we are happy to help in any way that we can." He gave her a warm, caring smile and she gave him a smile in return. "Now, I'm going to go down to the Station and get this mess sorted out. While I'm there I am going to see what we can do about Brett and what kind of evidence we might need if we want to file an abuse charge against him." With that Noah got to his feet, followed by Claire and Max. He gave the girls a hug and left the study.

"So shall we go get your things?" Claire asked Max, taking hold of her hand.

"Yeah let's go," she replied before allowing herself to be pulled out of the study by Claire.


	10. Girlfriends and Happy Memories

_Hi Guys! First off I am so sorry for being absent for almost 9 months! Turns out the second year of uni can get quite busy and I spent all summer trying, unsuccessfully, to get out of my overdraft. But here it is my next update. It's short, I know, but I am already working on the next one and I'm hoping to get it up asap for you. I also have the next 4/5 chapters planned out so it should, in theory, take a lot less time for me to update :) Anyway, enough rabbling, on with the story and don't forget to review if you like it!_

_Disclaimer: As always I do not own Claire, Noah or any other Heroes character, as much as I wish I did! _

**Chapter 8 – Girlfriends and Happy Memories**

The girls climbed into Claire's car and pulled out of the driveway. Claire knew roughly where they were going so Max didn't need to give her any directions until they were closer. They sat in silence for a few minutes. Now that they were alone again Claire started to think back on the events of the previous night. She smiled as she remembered how it felt to have Max lying in her arms. She glanced at Max who was gazing out the window at nothing in particular. Turning back to watch the road Claire gave Max more time to her own thoughts.

After another few minutes Max turned to face Claire.

"Last night… did that mean anything to you?" Claire glanced at her before turning back to the road.

"What do you mean?" she replied.

"Well… did you do it because you like me or because you felt sorry for me after what happened?" Max started to stare at her shoes as she spoke. When Claire didn't respond for a minute she looked up, nervously eyeing the blonde girl beside her. Claire's brow was furrowed telling Max that she was thinking carefully about what to say. It did nothing for Max's nerves.

Another minute passed before Claire finally responded. "I really like you Max. I don't know what it is but something drew me towards you that first day, something that made it impossible to just walk away from you. The things that happened between us didn't happen because I felt sorry for you; they happened because of that something about you that draws me in." Claire glanced at Max again and placed a hand on her leg. "And I certainly wouldn't be against it happening again, if you wanted it to." She looked at Max as she felt her hand entwining with hers and the smile on her face was answer enough.

"Turn left here, the warehouse is just at the end of the road." Max said pulling Claire's attention back to the road. Although she had been paying attention to the general direction that they were travelling in she hadn't realised how close they were until Max pointed it out.

They pulled up by one of the doors that led into the warehouse and got out of the car. As Max closed the car door she said in a light-hearted voice, "I guess this makes you my girlfriend," before walking to the door and opening it. Claire watched as Max walked into the warehouse, "yeah. I guess this does," she said giving a small smile as she followed Max.

The warehouse was huge and mostly empty, but Claire could see the scorch marks on the concrete floor from where Max had unintentionally created a wall of fire to stop the men who had shot her father from getting to her. She turned away from the marks and walked over to the small area where Max kept her things.

There was a small worn sofa with a wooden crate next to it. On the crate was a photo frame. It didn't take much for Claire to figure out that the handsome man stood next to Max in the picture was her father. They both looked so happy together in the picture. '_You'll be happy like that again, one day, I'll make sure of it!' _she thought as she turned to look at what Max was doing.

Max picked up an old rucksack and dumped it on the sofa before carefully picking up the photo frame, wrapping it in a t-shirt and placing it in the bag with a few other items of clothes she had in there. The she knelt down and lifted up the fabric of the sofa which hung down to the floor, covering the gap between the sofa and the floor. She pulled out the battered guitar case that Claire had seen her with before, her dad's guitar. The smile on Max's face was one of grim satisfaction. "I was never able to leave this at home. Couldn't risk it getting damaged or destroyed." When she stood and turned to face Claire her eyes were tear bright. "He would have liked you, you know, my dad. Strong, smart and caring… yeah he would've liked you." Claire stepped forward, closing the small gap between them and pulled Max into her arms.

They stood there, holding each other, for what felt like forever before Claire pulled back slightly so that she could wipe the tears form Max's cheeks.

"You sure he would've liked me even if I was dating his daughter?" she gave a small smile, which widened when she got one in response. Max nodded, "yeah. He knew about me being into girls before I'd even fully realised it. He told me all that mattered was that I loved them, they loved me and we looked after each other." She looked Claire in the eyes, "so yeah, he really would've liked you."

The next thing Claire knew Max's lips were brushing against hers. She pulled her closer and let her mouth melt against hers. When they finally broke for air, Claire picked up the rucksack and put it over her shoulder. "Come on, let's get home so we can sort everything out and relax for the rest of the afternoon."

"Ok." Max replied with a twinkle in her eye as she picked up the guitar case and took Claire's hand. As they walked back to the car Claire wondered if there would be anything relaxing about the afternoon and realised that as long as her afternoon involved spending time with her new girlfriend, she didn't care.


End file.
